Cotton-gin.



Patented NOV. 24, 1914.

11.8HEE'1S-SHEET 1.

- J. W. GRAVES.

COTTON GIN.

APPLICATION nun PBB.28,1906.

Wwfi 176/ 2 72 WGraI/p $4141 0;

J. W. GRA

GOTT

APPLICATION 1 r112. 28, 1900.

1,1 18,413. Patented Nov. 24,

4 SHEETS-SHE J. W. GRAVES.

COTTON GIN.

APPLICATION FILED rm.2s,1sos.

1, 1 1 8,41 3. Patented No 24, 1914.

4 SHBETS-SHEET 3.

WIHI III II II II II llllll! IIIIHIWHHHHH "II I! II II 1 i 2 R? a Wm II[n] 3% J. W. GRAVES COTTON GIN.

APPLICATION FILED names, 190s.

Patented Nov. 24, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

Z1 WGrm/eJ- A? M7 M UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. GRAVES, OF WINTI-IROP, MASSACHUSETTS, AS SIGNOR, BY DIRECT ANDMESNEI ASSIGNMENTS, O1? ONE-TENTH TO JANE BRIDGES, OF N EWIBURYPORT,MASSACHU- SETTS, AND NINE-TENTHS TO CHARLES F. BROWN, TRUSTEE, OIREADING, MASSA- CHUSETTS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN W. GRAVES, of \Vinthrop, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Gotton-Gins, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus for removing the cotton fibers fromseed cotton and has for its object to provide an improved gin bywhich,by successive action of successive instrumentalities, construction orprinciple, upon seed cotton, practically all of the valuable fibers maybe removed from the seeds.

Another object is to provide a machine which is simple in constructioncomposed of i a comparatively small number of parts.

Accordinglythe gin consists of a series of instrumentalities adapted toact in succes sicn upon seed cotton fed into the gin and each beingconstructed to remove fibers of a certain character, the ginning devicesbeing arranged so as to approximately surround an open space into whichthe cottonis fed and the feed roll being located in suchopen space toguide the cotton into proper :contact with the ginning devices.

The invention also consistsin other improvements and novel details ofconstruction which will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 representsa cross section of the cotton gin embodying the de scribed invention:Fig. 2 represents an end elevation of the same: Fig. 3 represents a sideelevationrFig. 4 represents a frag mentary section on line H of Fig. 2:Figs. 5, 6 and 7 represent fragmentary long1tucl1- nal sections of theglnning cylinders illustrated in Fig. 1: Fig. 8 represents a fragmentary elevationof one of the toothed combing disks and spacing disks.

Similar reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

The machine consists essentially of two end frames or plates 1, 2,between which extend the shafts 3, 4t and 5 of the gin cylinders 6, 7and 8 respectively.

9 is a hopper from which a passage 10 leads downwardly adjacent theperiphery of the first cylinder 6 into a space 11. The

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 28, 1906.

differing in COTTON-GIN.

Serial No. 303,363.

Patented Nov. 24, 1914..

side of the passage 10 is opened to admit the come into contact with thecylinders one al'terthe other. The gin cylinders all turn in the samedirection of rotation indicated by the arrows in Fig 1 and the feed rollis turned in the opposite direction, so that it and the first cylinder 6crowd the cotton into the portion of the space at the right of the feedrollwhere it is caught by the cylinder 7 and moved downward to the leftuntil it is forced by the feed roll into contact with the cylinder 8.Thence the seeds, practically stripped of all fiber, fallinto thepassage 15, which is' formed between the periphery of cylinder 8 and awall 16 and are carried by gravity away from the machine.

17, 18 and 19 represent stripper bars or plates which are locatedadjacent the peripheries of the several cylinders and serve to preventthe seeds being carried around by the cylinders with the fiber.

These stripper plates, together with the cylinders, inclose the as thebases of the teeth 20. In the figures above named there are adjoiningdisks of two different diameters, the greater number of disks 22 beingof the same diameter, while a less number of disks 23 are. of greaterdiameter. These larger disks are spaced at a uniform distance from eachother, this distance being. greatest in the case of cylinder 6, beingless for cylinder 7 Bea tween the several toothed disks are spacingdisks 21 which extend substantially as far and least of all for cylinder8. On account of this arrangement the teeth on cylinder 6, which actfirst upon the seed cotton, are enabled to extract the longest and mostthickly matted fibers, while the shorter fibers are removed by the othercylinders, the last one taking from the seeds practically all the fiberand lint which is of any use. The cylinders are driven from a beltpulley 2% on a main shaft 25 which carries a pinion 26 meshingsimultaneously with spur gears 27, 2S and on the shafts 3, l and 5respectively. In order to attain the best results it is necessary thatthe cylinders snould rotate at substantially increasing peripheralspeeds, and to that end I make them of successively increasingdiameters, their driving gears being all of the same size. Thisconstruction, however, is not essential, and it is obvious that thedifferences in speed might be made by having the gears 27, 253 and 29 ofsuccessively diminishing diameters.

The feed roll 12 is driven from shaft 3 by a spur gear 30 on said shaftwhich meshes with a gear 31 on a shaft of the roll.

I provide means for removing the fiber from the gin cylinders, thesemeans consisting of pneumatic ducts 32, 33 and 3%, one being adjacenteach of the cylinders. The ducts are in the form of boxes which extendentirely across the machine from one end of the frame to the other andare supported by the latter. Their ends are shaped to surround openings35, 36 and 37 respectively in the frames, through which air pipes ornipples may be passed to furnish the supply of air. The sides of theducts adjacent each of the cylinders are open to permit the air to blowagainst the cylinders, and they are located so close to the latter thatthe cotton is removed from the cylinders by the air and conveyed throughthe ducts to any suitable place of deposit. The product from all thecylinders may be carried to the same receptacle, if desired, or thefiber may be separately conveyed away, the latter procedure beingpreferred. Since fibers of different lengths and qualities are extractedby the several cylinders, it is convenient to have them separatelystored and packed.

The stripper bars extend from end to end of the machine, being securedto the end frames by bolts 38 passing through slots 39 in flanges d0.They extend from their points of attachment approximately tangentiallyto the surfaces of the several cylinders in directions opposite to thedirection of rotation of the cylinders, and are held with their edges asclose as possible to the points of the teeth so as to arrest and stripthe seeds from the cotton. Notchcs are formed in the bars to accommodatethe disks23 of larger diameter. The slots 39 permit adjustment of thebars toward and away from the several cylinders.

The wall 16 is pivoted at 4-2 to the machine frame and has a laterallyextending portion 4-3 which forms the lower boundary of the space 11.Connected to the wall is an arm 4:4, which extends in position to beengaged by the cam 45 driven in any suitable manner, as by the shaft l.Whenever the projecting partof the cam strikes the arm, the wall 16 isoscillated. toward and from the surface of the cylinder 8, and the part43 is moved up and down, thereby agitating the cottonand forcing it intocloser contact with the last nearer cylinder, vso as to insure the mostcomplete possible removal of the fiber from the seeds. In case thecylinder 8 does not remove all the fiber when it first comes in contactwith the seeds, the latter are raised until they are engaged again bythe roll 13 and may be carried about by the latter into contact againwith each of the cylinders, and it is possible for this action to takeplace until the seeds are entirely stripped when they may fall to thepassage 15.

In order to permit adjustment of the gin ning cylinders toward and fromeach other and the feed roll, as well as to permit their easy removal, Imount the shafts of these cylinders in bushings 46 which are held insockets 47 in the end frames. The bushings are cylindr'cal, so that theymay be rotated and also so that. they may be moved'in axial directionout of the sockets, and each is held by a set screw 48. The bearings inthe bushings for the shafts are eccentric, so that when the bushings arerotated the shafts held therein are moved a greater or less distancefrom the feed roll. Each of the sockets d7 has an open side or mouth4:9, and the shafts of the gin cylinders either in whole or in part areless in width than the width of these openings. Thus, when the bushingsare removed from the sockets, it is possible also to remove the gincylinders by passing their shafts through the openings a9 and withoutrequiring the shafts to be removed from the cylinders or entirelyremoved from the bushings. The latter are greater in diameter than theopenings d9, so that they are unable to slip laterally from the sockets.By this construction it is possible to adjust the ginning cylinders tothe exact position required and to move them out of the way or entirelytake them out of the machine when access to the interior is necessary,and it is also possible to aline the bearings of the shaft exactly withbut a slight amount of labor. I

The feed roll 12 is mounted in a somewhat similar manner, although itsbearing is not eccentric. This roll is formed with a shaft 50, one endof which rotates in a bearing formed to fit it in one of the frames,while the other end turns in a bearing formed in a cylindrical bushing51, which is as great in diameter as the greatest thickness or di ameterof the roll. The bushing 51 fits in an orifice provided for it in theend plate 2, and may be secured therein in any manner, as by a tap screw52. When the feed rollis to be removed, the bushing 51 is firstloosened, whereupon the roll can be removed endwise through the seat ofthe bushin In case one or more of the teeth on a disk 22 should break, aspace might be formed large enough to receive one of the cotton seedswhich would permit of seeds being carried throughwith the fiber, and inorder to repair the damage caused by breaking a tooth without requiringthe cylinder to be removed and a new disk applied, I have providedspacing disks 21 with notches 53 in their peripheries (as shown in Fig.8). These notches are somewhat undercut; that is, the openings whichthey make in the circumference of the disk are less than their greatestwidth, so that a plastic composition run into them and allowed to hardenwould be securely held.

When any of the teeth, as, for instance, a tooth 20, breaks, I make adam inclosing the space occupied by the broken tooth and into such spacepour liquid metal, such as antimony. The metal runs into the notches 53filling the same, and upon hardening is held securely The surface isthen smoothed off so that it will not extend beyond the ends of theteeth 20, and the cylinder is capable of further use. I prefer to useantimony since this metal has a frictional surface which catches andclings to the cotton fibers.

I claim 1. A cotton gin comprising a plurality of ginninginstrumentalities and a single feeding device centrally arranged withrespect to said instrumentalities in combination with guides cooperatingwith said devices for bringing seed cotton to them successively, saidcylinders being arranged each to act only once on the same cotton.

2. A cotton gin comprising a series of cylinders arranged about acentral space, a guide arranged to conduct seed cotton into said spaceand into contact with one of the cylinders, feeding means in said spaceconstructed and operated to bring the cotton into contact with theseveral cylinders, one after the other, and an outlet at the lower sideof said space and substantially equal in length thereto, for conductingthe seed away from the space after having been exposed once tothe actionof each cylinder.

3. A cotton gin comprising a plurality of ginning cylinders arranged soas approximately to surround an intermediate space, provisions forguiding seed cotton into the upper part of said spaces and feeding meanstherein for bringingthe cotton successively into engagement once onlywith each of the and means in said space for bringing the cottonsuccessively into exclusive engagement with each of the severalcylinders once only.

5. A. cotton gin comprising a plurality of ginning cylinders one ofwhich is acombing cylinder ar 'anged so as approximately to surround anintermediate space, a guide passage ar'anged to bring seed cotton, fedthereinto, against one of the cylinders and thence into said space, anda single feeding device and cooperating guiding means in the space forbringing the cotton into contact with the remaining cylinders insuccession. 6; Acotton gin comprising a plurality of ginning cylindersone of which is a combing cylinder arranged so as approximately tosurround an intermediate space, said space having an inlet and anoutlet, anda single feed roll located in said space between the inletand the outlet thereof for causing seed cotton fed into the space topass through the space andin so passing to come into contact with theseveral cylinders in succession.

7.. A cotton gin comprising a plurality of ginning cylinders one ofwhich is a combing cylinder ar'angcd so as approximately to surround anintermediate space, a guiding entrance passage for seed cottonhaving aside open to the first oi the cylinders, and

opening at its end into said space, and feeda ing means in the space forguiding the cotton in succession to the other cylmders.

8. A cotton gin comprising a plurality of ginning cylinders one of whichis a combing cylinder arranged so as approximately to surround anintermediate space, a guiding entrance passage for seed cotton having aside open to the first of the cylinders, and

opening at its end into such intermediate space, feeding means in thespace for guiding the cotton in succession to the other cylinders, and awall adjacent the last cylinder forming therewith an outlet passage forthe seeds.

9.. A cotton gin comprising frames having sockets in alinement, eachsocket having a lateral opening of less width than the widest part ofthe socket, bushings fitting in said 1 sockets, a shaft having portionsof less diamcter than the width of the socket openings rotarily andeccentrlcally mounted in the bushings, and a ginning cylinder carried 1widest part of the socket, bushings fitting in said sockets; a shafthaving portions of less diameter than the Width of the socket openingsrotarily and eccentrically mounted in the bushings, and a ginningcylinder carried by said shaft, the bushings being movable axially onthe shaft and displaceable in the same direction from the sockets.

11. A cotton gin comprising frames having in alinement circular sockets,each provided With a lateral opening of less Width than the diameter ofthe socket, cylindrical bushings fitting the sockets and disp1ace-- ableaxially therefrom, a shaft having jour- K nals of less diameter than theWidth of the socket openings fitting bearings eccentric in the bushings,and a ginning cylinder carried by the shaft.

12. A cotton gin comprising frames hav mg in alinement circular socketseach pro v ded with a lateral opening of less Width than the diameter ofthe socket, cylindrical bushings rotatably fitting the. sockets anddisplaceable axially therefrom, a shaft having journals of less diameterthan the Width of the socket openings fitting eccentric bear-- ings inthe bushings whereby the shaft may be transversely adjusted by rotationof the bushings, means for securing the bushings in the sockets, and aginning cylinder car ried by the shaft.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature, in presence of twoWitnesses.

JOHN W. GRAVES.

Witnesses Y Anrnnn H. BROWN, A. C. RATIGAN. v

Gopies of this patent may be obtain d for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G.

